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CONVENTION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA.
Matters in which Kiachta is concerned shall be attended to by Ko-me-sa-urh (?Commissioner or Commissary) stationed on the Kiachta frontier, in communication with the office of the beard at Kiachita. All [such communications, &c.] shall be in accordance with the provisions of the eighth article of this convention.
The said Generals, Govenors, and other officers shall correspond on terms of equality, in accordance with the second article of the Tientsin Treaty. Moreover, if the despatches written refer to business that ought not be entered upon, no attention shall be paid to them.
In respect of frontier business of great importance, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia shall communicate thereon with either the Privy Council or the Foreign Office.
Art. X.-All frontier business, whether of importance or otherwise, shall be managed by conjoint action on the part of the frontier officers, as laid down in the eighth article of this convention; and, as provided for by the seventh article of the Tintin Treaty, off nders shall be tried and punished in accordance with the laws of that one of the two countries to which they may belong.
Should cattle stray or b⋅ decoyed across the frontier boundaries, the officer of the locality, on being informed of the fact by official communication, shall, without delay, dispatch people to s arch for them; they shall likewise give full information to the soldiery at the frontier posts, who shall be bound 10 recover and send back such cattle, whether straying or stolen, in accordance with the numbers reported in the orig nal communication; and who, should they fail to restore the property that is missing, shall be punished, as the laws direct, in a manner proportionate to the value of what is lost. No claim for con p nsation shall be entertained.
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In the event of runaways crossing the frontier, measures shall be taken for their discovery and arrest immediately upon the receipt of an official requisition to that effect; and on the arrest having been effected, the prisoners, with whatever property may found in their poss s ion, shall be handed over to the nearest frontier officer, whose duty it shall be to ascertain the place from which such persons may have absconded. The runaways, while on the return journey under arres', shall be supplied with food, and, if naked, with cl thes; and they shall neither be maltreated nor insulted by the soldiers. Runaways arrested prior to the receipt of any such official requisition, shall also be dealt with in like manner.
Art. XI.-Answers shall be returned to communications transmitted through intermediate officers by the High Officials on the frontiers. The despatches of the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia and of the Koo-pih-urh-ra-to urh (? Governor) of Kiachta shall be handed to the Ko-me-sa-urh (? Commissioner or Commissary General) of Kiachta for transmission to the officer of the board. The dispatches of the High Officer station d at Koo-lun shall be handed to the officer of the board for transmission to the Ko-me-sa-urh of Kiachta. The despatcars of the Koo-pih- urh-na-to-urh of the Amoor province shall be forwarded to the Tartar General at Hib-lung-keng through the Adjutant General, who shall likewise transmit the despatches of the Kee-lin General. Despatches passing between the Koo pit-urh na- to-urb of the Tung hae-peen province and the General stationed at Kee-lin, shall be transmitted through the officers at the frontier ports of Hon chun in the Usuri territory. Communicatious b tween the Governor General of W stern Siberia and the Gneral stationed at Ili, shall be transmitted through the Russian Consul at Ili. Whenever the business in question is of gr at importance, official messengers shall be employed. The Governor-General o: Eastern and W stern Sib ria and the various Koo-pih-urb-na-to-urh (? Governors of Provinci 1 Districts), together with the High Officer at Ko-lun, and the Tartar General stationel at Hih-lung-koang, Kee-lin, and Ili, in the transmission of official communications, may entrust them to trustworthy Russian officers.
Art. XII.-As was stipulated for in the eleventh article of the Tientsin Treaty, the time allowed for the conveyance of official documents and parcels from Kiachta to Peking is here.n d. fined.
Letters st all be forwarded one a month, parcels and boxes from Kiachta to Pęking whall be forwarded once every two months, and quarterly from Peking to Kiachta.